they fly from 117 cities from across the country and had flown over 100,000 veterans to date. for the past two years, by business partners and our team at freethink media have followed the veterans from the stars and stripes organization in milwaukee. there are two veterans here today that are amazing guys who have become my friends. there is julian. [applause] julian and served on the navy -- in the navy. . he is a published poet. he took his first trip to washington d.c. on and on our flight. next, i want to tell you about joe. he is gone -- he is accompanied today by his wife terese. many of you no joke, but you might not know why. his picture was taken in 1945 for the "life magazine." it was called the human skeleton, weighing only 70 pounds. his photograph became one of the most iconic images of world war two. it is only fitting that today is joe's 87th birthday. [applause] gio and julian's stories have been submitted to the veterans history project at the library of congress. for years and years, researchers and documentarian's can use those stories for their future proj